Eastern And Western Cape , January 2012

Accounts and photos of non-captive reptiles in their natural habitat in South Africa. Try to record with your account details such as time of day/night, temperature, weather conditions, lunar cycle, sex, rough age of reptile, and so on.

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Re: Eastern And Western Cape , January 2012

Postby Fooble » Tue Feb 07, 2012 10:15 pm

Thanks everyone for the kind comments nice to see you guys appreciate it.
We really had a great trip and we were lucky enough to find a nice array of species.

Tony we were very chuffed with the berg adder, not sure if you now exact locations but i shall PM you with a google earth image , we thought the particular area was good and bang on in the open the little bugger was sitting.
The afternoon spent at your place must have been good karma for finding the Dwarf Bitis finds.
Thanks again for taking some time out to share some of your knowledge and observations with us it was much appreciated.
Yes the pool near the bridge spent many hours there indeed!

The Southern Ghost frog we found at night by driving up the pass, it was just walking along a moist moss covered bank. Easy to grab which was great.
"This species is endemic to the coastal mountain ranges of the Western and Eastern Cape Provinces of South Africa, from the Huis and Pederberg Rivers in the Outeniqua Mountains in the west, eastwards along the Tsitsikamma and Kareedouw mountain ranges to the Krom River Forest Reserve in the east. Its altitudinal range is 230-790m asl."

Interestingly the tad poles can take up to two years to become fully developed into small frog lets.

I seemed to omit these two images from the main topic

Trachylepis capensis - Cape Skink
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Hyperolius marmoratus verisocus - Painted Reed Frog ( Southern Sub species)
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Re: Eastern And Western Cape , January 2012

Postby Scavenger » Wed Feb 08, 2012 1:06 pm

All of you are aware myself and Fooble made a trip through the Eastern Cape and part of the Western Cape heading through from Durban to George. The scenery in which we had the pleasure of driving through was fantastic. This is the second time we have done such a trip, as it is already necessary for me to get to George for my studies. We moved from the relatively moist KZN coast through into mountainous grasslands heading towards one of South Africa’s largest biomes the Nama karoo. Where the landscape seemed to change before your very eyes which I found absolutely incredible. As already mentioned we made it an 8day trip with 32 Reptile and Amphibian species in total. With some other interesting sights such as the Bat Eared Foxes. We had the pleasure of meeting JKA who showed us around and pointed us in the right direction for herps and among other things such as banana peels and Chicken pieces ;) , we also had an opportunity to meet Armata who told us some fabulous stories about his snake research and past experiences which was very humbling to hear from a legend in the industry which I hope to be involved in one day.


So let me begin with some scenery shots.

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And now onto better things starting with the Chelonian Family ;)
Marsh Terrapin Pelomedusa subrufa
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Leopard Tortoise Stigmochelys pardalis
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Angulate Tortoise Cherisna angulata
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Then onto the Gekkonidae Family
Spotted Thick Toed Gecko Pachydactylus maculatus
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Bibron's Tubercled Gecko Chondrodactylus bibronii
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Cape Dwarf Gecko Lygodactylus capensis
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Other Lizards
Blue Spotted Girdled Lizard Cordylus coeruleopunctatus
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Western Rock Skink Trachylepis sulcata
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Ground Agama Agama aculeata
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Knysna Dwarf Chameleon Bradypodion damaranum
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Little Karoo Dwarf Chameleon Bradypodion gutturale
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Then the Snakes which included a lot of lifers for me :)
Cape Coral Snake Aspidelaps lubricus Tyrone already mentioned about this spp shamming death was a very intrigueing observation. This one was a big Lifer for me :D
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Cape Cobra Naja Nivea
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Boomslang Dispholidus typus
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Puff Adder Bitis arietans
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Mole Snake Pseudaspis cana
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Red-lipped Herald Snake Crotaphopeltis hotamboeia
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Common Slug Eater Dubberia lutrix
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Olive Snake Lycodonomorphus inornatus
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And obviously I couldn't forget about the Berg Adder find, which had to be the find of the trip :D
Berg Adder Bitis atropos
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Then finally the Frogs which included a very cool frog that I've been looking for, for a whole year! Which also came as a surprise.
Boettger's Caco Cacosternum nanum
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Cape River Frog Amietia fuscigula
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Tandy's Sand Frog Tomopterna tandyi
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Karoo Toad Vandijkophrynus gariepensis
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Painted Reed Frog Hyperolius marmoratus subsp
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Unfortunately or fortunately for the spider this reed frog got caught.
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And finally the grail Southern Ghost Frog Heleophryne regis
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Hope you enjoyed all the pics and Tyrone we must definitely plan a trip like this again.
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Re: Eastern And Western Cape , January 2012

Postby Fooble » Wed Feb 08, 2012 1:52 pm

Sam your images are great!

It's interesting to me although we spot all the Sam stuff the different approaches to our own photographs does differ.
The scenery images are awesome ( now i bet everyone can tell who did all the driving ;) )

Well done!

Is it just me or the angle is is that reed frog missing it's front leg? Can't believe you got that poor frog eaten ha ha!

Same time same place next year ;)
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Re: Eastern And Western Cape , January 2012

Postby marc bt » Wed Feb 08, 2012 2:58 pm

Dam guys!! looks like you had a rad trip!
What was the reaction like when you found the atropos?
Would love to do something like this one day soon.
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Re: Eastern And Western Cape , January 2012

Postby Mitton » Wed Feb 08, 2012 3:04 pm

Great pics Sam, I really like the Ghost Frog and Berg Adder shots.
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Re: Eastern And Western Cape , January 2012

Postby Scavenger » Wed Feb 08, 2012 7:52 pm

Thanks Eugene :) Marc it was a really cool find, found it just chilling in the open in a grass tussock honestly don't know how I spotted the bloody thing. But am super excited as this specimen was found roughly an hours hike from where I study so hopefully will find some more :D Tyrone only noticed that now very peculiar i think it's just the angle.
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Re: Eastern And Western Cape , January 2012

Postby Durban Keeper » Thu Feb 09, 2012 9:02 am

Sam the last berg adder shot is just too nice. I love the fact that with the atropus, lubricus, nivia ect u take a step back and take landscape shots, where the snake is very much present, but not the main focus of the image. Great job. You both shoot with very different styles indeed and have contributed greatly to the quality of this forum.
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